A scared Jon squares off with Batman in Superman: Son of Kal-El #11 preview

Superman and Batman might be BSFF (best superhero friends forever) but that's not this Superman...

Jon Kent is his own (young man) now and a full-fledged Man of Steel, so he's not backing down to whatever Batman has up his sleeve in this fully-lettered preview of Superman: Son of Kal-El #11.

In case you missed it, in writer Tom Taylor's Superman: Son of Kal-El #10 that went on sale April 12 ... and slight spoilers here ... no sooner did Jon have an emotional moment finally coming out to his mother Lois Lane, than Batman showed up unannounced to Jon's utter surprise (he has x-ray vision and superhearing and all!)

Bruce, in his usual no-nonsense way, announced Superman and Lois had to hurriedly come with him to a Justice League safehouse, because Jon's been pissing off the wrong people, including President Henry Bendix and Lex Luthor. Surprisingly he also made it clear that Jon's boyfriend Jay Nakamura couldn't come with them.

On his Bat-plane, Bruce reveals in his Batman-way why Jay couldn't come - because he knows who Jay is, knows where he comes from, knows who he works for and that Jon cannot trust Jay.

...annnnnnnnd scene!

Ooh, cliffhanger!

The preview by artist Cian Tormey picks up at the safehouse (an impressive mountain retreat, btw) where Jon's grandfather and namesake Jonathan Kent (yeah, he's alive these days ... again) is already present, who enjoys a hot cup of coffee with the Dark Knight.

But not before Jon admits to himself he's afraid of Batman, Batman tells him Jay has ties to violent extremists and that Jon has to start acting like the most powerful being on the planet.

See the whole scene here:

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Superman: Son of Kal-El #11 goes on sale May 10.

And since we're looking ahead take a look at all of DC's July 2022 titles right now.

I'm not just the Newsarama founder and editor-in-chief, I'm also a reader. And that reference is just a little bit older than the beginning of my Newsarama journey. I founded what would become the comic book news site in 1996, and except for a brief sojourn at Marvel Comics as its marketing and communications manager in 2003, I've been writing about new comic book titles, creative changes, and occasionally offering my perspective on important industry events and developments for the 25 years since. Despite many changes to Newsarama, my passion for the medium of comic books and the characters makes the last quarter-century (it's crazy to see that in writing) time spent doing what I love most.